President Bush vetoed another convoluted piece of legislative garbage again today. This time the veto was a response to over $9 billion in porkbarrel projects that he disagreed with. The bill was the recent Water Projects Bill which is all about fixing up potential flooding areas, building freshly misdesigned Army Corps of Engineers dikes, putting in new drain pipes, etc… or is it? It started out as a $14 billion exploration of public water and wetlands management and became a $23 billion pile of pork.
With all the bitching the Democrats do about war spending, nearly doubling (9 is 64% of 14) a public project with pure pork is a weird way to make a statement on fiscal management. Imagine if the recent $80 billion war appropriation grew to $131.2 billion by the power of the pig alone?
Why doesn’t he want to pass the bill? Its obviously not because he doesn’t want to face another Hurricane Katrina. He was stung by that once, he has no desire and his party has absolutely no motivation to be seen as asking for another one. He wants to conduct water and wetland management programs – everybody does – at a sane and proper cost to the people. A 64% increase in bacon is hardly acting in the public’s fiscal interest. It is a dangerous precedent. Comparing this to the war is pretty difficult to, considering that wars are, well, wars… people die if they aren’t properly funded. Of course, the Democrats want to cut funding for that, let Joe die out there unsupported, magically kiss all the Muslim hatred better and dole out billions upon billions in directionless public projects.
An interesting example of what sort of worthless projects porkbarrel money goes to, check out the Sunshine Bridge in Louisianna. Its a wonderfully pointless way to waste the time, sweat and tax money of countless Americans. It was the classic bridge to nowhere when it was originally conceived, and since a road has since been built on the other side of it (whew!) the area’s economy has grown by leaps and bounds. The nearby Piggly Wiggly has given way to a Walmart. That would have probably happened anyway. I can’t see how $9 billion extra in projects like this are responsible spending… but that’s the government for you. Someday I should take the time to write down all the ridiculous wastes I’ve witness in the military. Incredible.